Ukraine in International Relations of the Post-Westphalian Era: Changing Geostrategic Role

Abstract

The article examines the international challenges of the Post-Westphalia era and emphasizes that each individual country strives to avoid a marginal and peripheral state, and therefore Ukraine as a sovereign state should intensively engage in globalization and integration processes. It can be stated that one of the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war will be the decline of the power and influence of the Kremlin's neo-empire and the gradual formation of Ukraine as a new power center between the Baltic and the Black Sea. One of the main results of the first victories of the Ukrainian army was that Putin failed to make Ukraine a «footnote» of world history (as it once happened with East Germany). The author proves the thesis that in the next 10-15 years, we should develop a flexible Ukrainian-centric asymmetric geostrategy for the region of Central-Eastern Europe, especially in the military-political sense. In the sense of democratic development, Ukraine should become an effective subject of international relations, an attractor capable of uniting around itself as a magnet – economically, socially and politically all interested neighbors from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Author concluded, in the new geopolitical conditions, the hierarchy of relations imposed by Putinʼs Russia on the expanses of Eurasia is collapsing and creating а «multipolar» Eurasian system with several centers of influence. Сonsequently, China will increasingly influence Kazakhstan and Central Asia in general, Turkey will strengthen in the Caucasus, and from the Baltic to the Black Sea, Ukraine, acting in close alliance with Poland, will take a responsible and leading position. Ukraine is waging a complex, very tiring asymmetric war with the Russian Federation, which, however, is able to strengthen our country not only from the point of view of security and defense, but also as a model of stable and successful democracy in Eastern Europe, which protects not only the borders, but also the fundamental values of the European Union. The conclusion is made that transitional period associated with the crisis of the Westphalian system is far from over and it requires serious efforts from official Kyiv, primarily in terms of diplomatic and military-political preparations for the medium-term perspective before joining the EU and NATO.